October Eats

It's that time where the month is coming to an end and I am clearing off my camera. Here are some tasty autumnal eats we've enjoyed over the past few weeks.

Mole Skillet Pie with Greens from Veganomicon. Soooo satisfying, and that mole sauce might not be authentic (their words not mine), but it's the bomb and so easy to make!

Saucy BBQ Chickpeas and Green Beans from Plant-Powered Families, paired with some kinda quinoa-amaranth-millet pilaf from Costco. The pilaf had an earthy (polite way of saying dirt) flavor. The BBQ beans are awesome.

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions from Veganomicon. Oh, my sweet baby mujadara. I am the only one in my family who likes this dish, and I don't care. Sometimes I make it just for me and eat it for days. The love is real.

Apple Pie Smoothies from Plant-Powered Families. A perfect homework-time snack, and it really does taste like apple pie!

Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup from Healthy Happy Vegan. I love the smooth texture of the blended sweet potatoes! I hated how spicy it was, even though I cut down on the amount of chipotle powder that the recipe called for. I love spicy food but I don't like it when heat overwhelms the other flavors. So I will cut it down a lot more next time.

Raw Chard Salad with Maple Mustard Dressing from Healthy Happy Vegan. Made up for the too-spicy soup. I could have eaten the entire recipe myself but I shared with Tony so he could partake in the goodness.

Cheesy Cauliflower and Potato Bake from The Abundance Diet, along with cornmeal-crusted roasted okra from our garden. Sooooo gooood. Ultimate comfort food, cheesy and creamy and wonderful.

Tap shoes and a blanket, why not?

Habana, Always Good

Today we had a leisurely lunch at Habana. It's not in our neck of the woods, but it's always good, so worth the drive. Plus, driving through Austin is never boring. 

I started with a cucumber margarita, as gloriously refreshing as it sounds.

Our appetizer of choice is always mariquitas, thinly-sliced fried plantains served with tangy green dipping sauce.

I had quimbombo, a veggie stew loaded with okra. Heaven. For a restaurant that serves mainly heavy meat dishes, Habana does vegetarian amazingly well. On the side, black beans, and rice with pigeon peas.

Our sweet server felt that we had to wait too long for our food (not that we complained or really even noticed; we were just hanging out), so when we'd finished eating, he brought out a huge, complimentary slice of tres leches cake for us to share. Nice! It's one of the best tres leches cakes I've had in Austin, heavy on the cinnamon.

Olivia considered it all brain food. When we returned home, she was ready for some serious checker playing.

Serious concentration.

Vegan MoFo Day 11: Last Splash

I'm not sure if today was really our last visit to a splash pad this summer, since the one by Zilker Park stays open year-round. But I'm a Breeders fan, so I'll stick with that post title nonetheless.

I'm so glad that the sun is finally, little by little, giving us a break so that we can play outside again. The high today was only 100. Compared to 106 last week, I'll take it.

Afterwards, we cooled down in a different manner of speaking. We stopped at Sweet Ritual for vegan ice cream. Jackson and Olivia both chose cookies n' cream "monkey cones." Can you see the little monkey face? Cute.

I had a double cone with a scoop of horchata topped by a scoop of nutter butter.  As a peanut butter fanatic, I wanted the nutter butter to have a stronger peanut flavor, but the horchata flavor was perfectly cinnamony, with little pieces of almonds mixed in.

For dinner, I made po'boys. Tony fried up the last of the okra from our garden, and I stuffed it into hoagie rolls along with lettuce, tomato, pickles, Veganaise, and hot sauce.

With that, Vegan MoFo is half over! Hope y'all have a great weekend!

PPK Cookbook Challenge

Although I'm mostly a lurker on the PPK forums, I thought it would be fun to participate in the current cookbook challenge. I'm joining in late due to my parents being in town. Last week's challenge was to cook from any book by Isa Moskowitz or Terry Hope Romero. I chose Terry's latest, Vegan Eats World, because I bought it recently and have been dying to dive into it.

I decided to make a little Indian feast. I made the Golden Tandoori Tofu, Okra Masala, and Tamarind Chutney. I was pleased with how fast and easy these recipes were. The tofu is baked in a creamy yogurt-based sauce. I served it over rice and spooned a bit of chutney on top. The chutney is sweetened by dates and it has a sweet/sour flavor. The recipe doesn't make a lot, but it's strong, so you only need a little. The okra was my favorite dish. I do love okra. The okra masala is spicy and tomato-y. I could've eaten the whole recipe myself.

While I cooked, Jackson and Olivia played with a set of foam stamps they received from their grandparents.

For awhile I was afraid to let them paint on our new table, but I put down paper bags as their "painting mats" and problem solved.

What cookbooks have you been cooking from lately?

Snow Day

Last weekend, we attended the re-opening of the newly renovated downtown YMCA. The big draw was...10 tons of snow! I have no idea where they got it from, and it was partially melted by the time we arrived, but there was still plenty left for a good, old-fashioned snowball fight!

 

 

 

Well, Olivia didn't really want anything to do with the snow. She doesn't remember it from when we lived in New York. She was just a baby. But Jackson has fond memories of playing in the snow. He also remembered how to pack a snowball!

 

There was also an inflatable mountain for the kids to climb...

 

 

And a snow slide!

 

After the kids wore themselves out (and changed into warm, non-soggy socks and shoes), we headed to Habana for lunch. We started with the mariquitas, thinly sliced, fried plantains that come with a meat-based mojo sauce, but you can ask for the vegan chimichurri sauce. And then ask for refills, because you will understand that the plantains simply serve as a conduit to get as much delicious chimichurri sauce into your mouth as possible.

I had quimbombo, an okra stew with bell peppers and onions. It comes with sides of seasoned rice with pigeon peas, and beans. (The beans had pork in them, but they were for Tony, since I don't eat beans.)  The stew is phenomenal. I mix it up with the rice, the rice absorbs all the extra juices, and it's all so, so amazing. I've done a little digging around online for a recipe, and this one looks so simple, I may have to give it a shot.

 

 

Sudsy Fun

This afternoon, once it became clear that Jackson and Olivia weren't interested in napping, I quickly turned to my Pinterest boards for inspiration. Result: soap painting!  

I wasn't too sure about using the paint in the tub, until I found out whether it stained. So we headed out on the deck. The kids dug in, squishing the goopy mixture in their hands.

When I informed them that this was a special paint and they could paint themselves, that's when the grins and good times really started. Soon they were covered from head to toe in colorful suds.

After a rinse in the pool, they were squeaky clean. (And the bubbles didn't stain their swimsuits or anything else, so I'm sure it's fine to use in the bathtub.)

We had a light dinner of soup and veggies. I made Nigella Lawson's pea and pesto soup, a longtime favorite.

I fired up my indoor grill pan and charred some summer squash and okra.

I also roasted some little potatoes we got from the CSA. I had no idea they were bright purple on the inside, until I cut into them!

Quite a colorful day, overall.

Last Gymnastics Class

Jackson has been doing gymnastics for the past six months, and he has learned a lot. He is awesome at doing somersaults; he even taught Olivia how to do them. His balance has also improved dramatically. Who knows, he may do another class in the future. Right now he is going to switch to swim lessons for awhile. So today was his last class. It was also pajama day!

 

 

He is such a little monkey.

 

For dinner last night, I made the banh mi sandwiches from Veganomicon with the five-spice dipping broth. My favorite recipe ever. It used to take me forever to make the seitan, but it gets easier with practice. And the payoff is always worth it.

 

 

I also grilled some okra and zucchini from our CSA box. Do you like okra? Some find it too slimy. I love it. Luckily, my kids share my love for it. We grill it and eat it up like candy.

 

Hope you are having a great day!